Sunday, June 26. 2005

ISRAEL SEES RIVALS IN WESTERN-BASED AIR FORCES
[Egyptian air force considered leading threat]
IMRA - June 26, 2005

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Israel Air Force has determined emerging threats from neighboring Arab states that have been building combat air fleets based on U.S. aircraft. IAF sources said the service regards Egypt as a leading threat with its fleet of F-16 multi-role fighters as well as plans to purchase up to 100 advanced Block 52 aircraft by the end of the decade.

The sources also cited
Jordan, which plans to upgrade its F-16 fleet to enable the deployment of
advanced air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.

"As the weapons in the Middle East become more advanced in the area of
aviation, it marks a challenge for us to be able to cope with them," Brig.
Gen. Ido Nehushtan, air force chief of staff, said. "We are surrounded by
very modern air forces that continue to strengthen. We face challenges of an
entirely different kind and therefore we require an air force that could
deter and defeat."

In early June, Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy met
senior U.S. defense and military officials and urged them to halt the export
of advanced weapons to Arab enemies of Israel. Shkedy was said to have
expressed concern over the sale of the F-16 to the United Arab Emirates and
plans to sell the Block 50 to Egypt.
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Got a mob of stubborn protesters you just can't move out? Want to quickly break up a standoff without anybody getting seriously or even moderately hurt?

Why not dump a load of bees on them, then fly an unmanned aerial vehicle over them, spraying a pheromone that makes the bees highly aggressive? Then sit back and watch them run.

Or you could use high-wattage speakers that vibrate human insides to the point of turning the target into a quivering, vomiting, diarrheic mess.

Faced with the possibility of huge resistance by settlers and opponents to disengagement, the IDF may perhaps pull out its new secret weapon: the Screamer.

This acoustic cannon mounted on a Land Rover has been under live testing against violent demonstrations against the security fence by Palestinians and their Jewish supporters.

During the past four-and-a-half years of conflict, the IDF has been desperately searching for a less-than-lethal weapon. Suddenly, as the security forces gear up for evacuation, the IDF pulled out the Screamer.

"It was originally intended to be used against the Palestinian population, not the Jewish one," Maj. Yoav Yadov, officially head of self-protecting armor and countermeasures in the Ground Forces Services, but actually the address in the IDF for less-than-lethal weapons, told The Jerusalem Post.

"Every weapon has a testing time," he said. "But the Palestinians are not being used as guinea pigs. We fielded this after it passed all the medical and legal restrictions."

Yadov insisted the timing was just a coincidence. He said the Screamer had been ready for more than six months, but there had been no incident suitable for a live test until earlier this month.

He said he was not aware of any plan to use it in Gush Katif.

"It would take a decision by the chief of General Staff or his deputy or the defense minister to use these tools against Jews. I am not aware of any such decision. Even if I was, I wouldn't tell you," Yadov said.

Another officer suggested the Screamer could be used to disperse protesters marching on settlements or IDF positions.

For years, the IDF and security forces around the world have been seeking a "politically correct" instrument that would stop demonstrators without seriously harming them. They used to be known as "non-lethal" weapons, but today the IDF prefers the term "less-than-lethal."

The IDF had always heavily censored just what it was developing on this front, largely because the weapon's effectiveness depends on an element of surprise. After revealing the Screamer on June 4, the IDF finally broke its silence and allowed Yadov to be interviewed.

The IDF likes to point out that there is no "silver bullet" yet discovered that truly answers the requirements of a less-than-lethal weapon.

"It's easy to make a weapon that kills, but it takes years to make one that is less than lethal, because it has to pass stringent medical tests and international law," Yadov said.

The IDF is currently examining the use of the Taser shocker for close encounters. The problem is just how close it wants its soldiers to come to Palestinians.

Yadov said that the IDF had examined various proposals for less-than-lethal weapons, but they had not passed the medical criteria: that it not cause irreversible damage. He said an idea to spray glue on everyone had been rejected, since removing the glue would wind up peeling away the skin as well. A stink bomb had also been rejected because it caused damage, but Yadov would not elaborate.
He did confirm that he was aware of a project to place a red light flashing at seven hertz, which sends anyone gazing at it into an epileptic fit, at various key spots. He said it was still in the study stage.

"The purpose of these weapons is to make protesters leave the area. not to turn them into cripples or blind them or anything like that," Yadov said.

The Screamer happens to be a homegrown product, the fruit of a collection of IDF weapons development branches. It was assembled by EORD, a company connected with the Technion.

It is mounted on the back of a vehicle and can be directed with an effective range of about 100 meters. Yadov said it worked by transmitting an audible, high-frequency piercing whistle that targets the inner ear.

"It's like putting a concert amplifier next to your ear," he said.

It's painful enough to cause people to cover their ears and move away, but, he said, it wasn't designed to burst eardrums or cause irreversible damage.

He rejected reports that a Styrofoam shield could block the acoustic waves. But he was aware that the Palestinians were looking for ways to neutralize the Screamer.

Asked if the sound waves penetrated walls, he replied: "No comment."

John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank in the United States, told the Associated Press that the recent use of the Screamer was the first case of such technology making it out of the laboratory and into the field.

"Most governments don't face large-scale demonstrations with a potential for lethal violence," he said. "So I think I would look to Israeli security forces to be an innovator in the non-lethal arena, simply because of the unique challenges it faces in the crowd-control arena."

Although Yadov stressed the IDF had continuously funded research and development for less-than-lethal weapons and insisted they were given high priority, the fact was it had only come up with one – the Screamer.

Yadov said he hadn't heard of the bee idea, which had been bandied around the IDF's secret weapons system development department. "It never crossed my desk and I have no idea what you're talking about," Yadov said. "And if I did, I couldn't talk about it."

===============

Two More Israelis Die To Please America
26 June 2005

IMRA: "Judea Brigade Commander Colonel Moti Baruch said that the terrorists
who carried the latest shooting attack took advantage of the recent easing
of restrictions on Palestinian movement in the southern Mount Hebron area."
= The Sharon administration sacrificed these two boys to please America. The
restrictions have, temporarily been reimposed. On the other hand, it appear
that security control will be handed over to the Palestinians in Kalkiliya
and Bethlehem in order to please America. Thus it can be expected that other
Israelis will literally "die to please America" in the future.

June 24, 2005 - Avihai Levy, 17, of Beit Hagai was killed in a drive-by
terrorist shooting at a hitchhiking stop about 200 meters from the entrance
to Beit Hagai, south of Hebron.
[photo
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Memorial/2005/Victims/Avihai+Levy.htm

Avihai Levy, along with several other teenagers, was waiting for a lift at
about 16:45 Friday afternoon at the hitchhiking stop near Beit Hagai. Avihai
was on his way to Beersheba, where he was a counselor of a Bnei Akiva youth
group. Three or four terrorists riding in a car saw them standing at the
hitchhiking station, and initially drove by before making a U-turn and
heading back in their direction. As Amir Azulai and his wife, also from Beit
Hagai, stopped to offer the boys a lift, the terrorists opened fire. Avihai
was pronounced dead on the scene. Aviad Mansour, fatally wounded, died on
June 26. Another teenager along with the Azulais were wounded. The Islamic
Jihad and Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the
attack.

Avihai, who had lived in Bet Hagai with his family for many years, was a
student at the Kiryat Arba High School yeshiva. His friend, Avner Lior,
related that he was good at basketball and a computer whiz. Yair Lior, the
spokesman for Beit Hagai, described him as a happy, friendly boy who was
full of life.

Aviad Mansour (second from left) with his family
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Memorial/2005/Victims/Aviad+Mansour.htm

The oldest of five children, Aviad Mansour, 16, of Otniel was the son of
Neria Mansour, a rabbi at the hesder yeshiva in Otniel. Aviad, like Avihai,
was a Bnei Akiva counselor. He managed to call his parents after the attack
and tell them what had happened, but took many shots to his lower body.
Rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital where he underwent surgery, he
succumbed to his wounds almost two days later.

Aviad Mansour will be buried in the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem.
He is survived by his parents, Neria and Eva, and four younger siblings.

Judea Brigade Commander Colonel Moti Baruch said that the terrorists who
carried the latest shooting attack took advantage of the recent easing of
restrictions on Palestinian movement in the southern Mount Hebron area.

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